Corn-planting machine.



B. HANSON.

CORN PLANTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 11.27, 1914.

1,109,835, Patented Sept 8, 1914,

2 SHEETS SHEET 1.

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WITNESSESI- iNVENTOR.

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B. HANSON.

CORN PLANTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 2.27, 1914.

1, 109,835. atented Sept. 8, 1914 2 SHBETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSESI- INVENTOR.

THE NORRIS PETERS C0 PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHING TON. D c.

BERNARD HANSON, 0F MARTIN, OHIO.

CORN-PLANTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 8, 1914.

Application filed April 27, 1914. Serial No. 834,731.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BERNARD HANSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Martin, in the county of Ottawa and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Corn-Planting Machine; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to corn planting machines, and resides particularly in the mechanism of such machines with which the checkrow wires coact to effect a periodical operating of the corn dropping means. The invention is not restricted to this use, however, as it may be used in any connection for which it may be adapted or appropriate.

The object of my invention is the provision of an improved mechanism of the character described which is simple and efficient in its operation, inexpensive in its construction, and which is automatically operable by the lateral pressure thereon of the checkrow wire at different points in the travel of the machine, to engage or release the wire.

Further objects and advantages of the in vention will be apparent from the following detailed description thereof.

The invention is fully described in the following specification, and while, in its broader aspect, it is capable of embodiment in numerous forms, a preferred embodiment thereof is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a mechanism embodying the invention in operative engagement with the check-row wire. Fig. 2 is a similar View thereof with the checkrow wire and engaging parts of the mechanism in released position, and Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the use of the invention in connection with a checlerow wire.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 3 in particular, 1 designates a corn planting machine of ordinary construction in which 2, 2 are the corn hoppers or containers, and 3 the shaft which is common to both hoppers and controls the dropping of kernels therefrom in a well known manner. A check-Wire operated mechanism 4 for controlling the movements of the shaft 3 is mounted at each side of the machine and embodies the features of my invention. The customary check-wire is designated 5 and is strung between posts 6, 7, the positions of which are alternately changed at the completion of the planting of successive rows as is well understood in the art.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, 8 designates a frame part of the machine, which is disposed at each end of the shaft 3 and forms a bearing in which the adjacent end of such shaft is permitted to have free rocking movements. The frame part 8 has uprights 9 and 10 rising therefrom in spaced relation transversely of the shaft 3 and such uprights are connected by a cross-piece 11. The rear upright 9 has spindles projecting therefrom in vertically spaced parallel relation and carrying a pair of wire guiding rolls 12, 12 the lower of which, in the present instance, is provided at its inner end with a peripheral flange 13 for receiving the inward horizontal thrust of the check-wire 5. The spindle which carries the lower roller 12 is provided at its outer end with an outwardly and downwardly inclined guide finger 14 which assists in guiding the wire 5 in operative position between the rollers 12, 12, as hereinafter more fully described. The forward upright 10 is provided adjacent to its lower end with an outwardly projecting arm 1? to which is pivoted, as at 16, a vertically swinging rocker-head 17 which terminates at its free end in an enlargement 18, which is flattened in transverse relation to the head and is intended to bear at its inner edge against the upright 10 when said head is in upright position, as shown in Fig. 1. A wire guard finger 19 projects outwardly and upwardly on an incline from the inner edge of the enlarged portion 18 of the rocker head for the purpose hereinafter described. Rising from the outer portion of the enlargement 18 is a spindle 20, which carries a conical form of roller 21, which has its large end disposed at the inner or lower end of the spindle and outwardly flared or flanged, as at 21'. A cylinder form of roller :22 is carried in horizontal position by a spindle 93 projecting from the outer side of the upright 10 above the enlargement 18 of the rocker-head 17 and serves to prevent a jumping of the wire 5 from operative relation to the roller 21 when the rocker-head is in the operative position shown in Fig. 1. A link 24 is pivoted to the rockenhead 17 and projects therefrom through a slotted guide portion in the upright 10 and has a shoulder 26 at its free end for eoacting with the upright 10 to limit the outward rocking movements of the rocker-head 17 and associated parts, as shown in Fig. 2. The link 24 has a part 27 projecting from one side thereof and forming shoulders at its opposite ends with which the hooked or angled end of a bellcrank catch-lever 28 is adapted to engage to lock the rocker-head 17 in either its operative or inoperative positions, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively. The catch-lever 28 is fulcrumed beneath the cross-member 11 to a convenient frame part and has connection through a rod or wire 29 with a respective foot-lever 30 on the machine, the connection being such that a depression of the foot-lever 30 will effect a rocking of the catch-lever 28 to release its locking engagement with the ends of the part 27 with which it is engaged. A rocker-arm 31 is fixed to the shaft 3 for each mechanism 1 and is urged to swing in one direction by a coiled contractile spring 32, which is attached at one end to the frame part 8 and at its other end to the rocker arm. The spring urged movements of the rocker-arm are limited by a lug 33 on the arm coacting with a lug 34 on the frame part 8. The outer end of the rocker arm 31 is provided with a forked check-wire receiving member 35, which is pivoted to the rocker-arm for limited rocking movements relative thereto longitudinally of the shaft 3, and has the outer ends of its furcations extending outwardly in divergent relation to form the forked member with a broadened mouth portion to facilitate a guiding of the check-wire into the space between the button engaging portions of the member 35. The member 35 is permitted to have substantially the same length of swinging movement as the rocker-head 17, the outward swinging movements of the member being limited by a stop-lug 36 at its inner end coacting with a registering portion of the rocker-arm 31.

From the diagram shown in Fig. 3, which illustrates the customary manner of arranging the check-row wire relative to the travel of the machine, it will be noted that the starting end of the wire 5, which is attached to the post 6, is in line with the center of the machine when such machine is traveling across the field. The other post 7 is set a short distance to one side of the row which the machine is following so that the wire will stand in outwardly inclined relation to the row being planted or to the direction of travel of the machine. Bearing this in mind, it will be noted that the inner end portion of the wire 5, when in engagement with the respective mechanism 1, will exert an inward pressure against the part of the mechanism with which it is engaged; and also that the wire will exert an outward pulling pressure on the engaged mechanism when the machine is at or near the end of its travel across the field, due to the post 7 being set at one side of the path of travel of the machine, as designated by the upper dotted line in Fig. The position of the *ocker-head 17 and associated parts and also of the forked wire engaging member 35 will stand in the outward rocked or inoperative position shown in Fig. 2 when the wire is released from engagementtherewith, the rocker-head being held in such outwardly swung position by the locking engagement of the catch lever 28 with the inner shoulder on the link 2%. The pressure of the wire 5, when brought to bear against the enlarged portion of the rocker-head 17 or the finger 19 thereof, preparatory to planting a new row, will cause the rocker-head and forked member to swing inward to the operative position shown in Fig. 1 when the catch lever 28 is released from the locking en gagement with the link 24, shown in Fig. 2. When the machine has traveled to the finishing end of a row, the wire 5 will exert an outward pulling pressure on the roller 21 and cause an outward throwing of the rocker-head 17 when the catch lever 28 is released from locking engagement with outer shoulder on the link 2 1, thus permitting an automatic release of the wire from engagement with the machine. The machine is then turned around, preparatory to returning across the field, so that the mechanism 4 of the machine which was idle during the previous travel of the machine is now disposed at the side adjacent to the wire. The post 7 is then taken 11 a and set at the rear of the machine, as indicated at 7, so that the wire 5 presses inwardly against the outwardly thrown rockerhead 17 in the manner shown in Fig. 2, and causes an inward throwing of such rocker-head to its operative position upon the release by the operator of the locking lever 28. This operation is repeated after each forward and backward travel of the machine. It is thus evident that the tension of the wire on the rocker-head causes the rocker-head to move both to its operative and inoperative positions at respective portions of the travel of the machine, and that when the rocker-head is in its operative position it remains in such position until the operator releases the same by a movement of the catch lever 28, and that when the rocker-head is in its inoperative position itremains locked in such position until the operator releases the locking engagement of the catch-lever 28 therewith. When the wire 5 is drawn across the associated mechanism 4 preparatory to being placed in operative engagement therewith, the wire presses the 9 against the rocker-head between the roller 21 and the finger 19 thereof and stands in position to enter the mouth portion of the forked member and also in position to be guided into the space between the rollers 12, 12 by the guide part 14 when the rockerhead is released and the wire coacting parts moved to the operative position shown in Fig. 1. It is, of course, understood that when a mechanism 4 is in operative engagement with a wire and is moving along the wire, the buttons 5, which are placed at predetermined intervals on the wire successively come in contact with the forked member 35 and effect a rocking of the arm 31 and shaft 3.

I Wish it understood that my invention is not limited to any specific construction or arrangement of the parts except in so far as such limitations are specified in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

1. The combination with a planting machine and a check-row wire placed at a side of the machine in divergent relation to the travel thereof, of a Wire engaging mechanism carried by the machine and having a rocker-head mounted for vertical swinging movements and movable from inoperative to operative position by an inward pressure of the wire thereagainst and from operative to inoperative position by an outward pressure of the wire thereagainst, and manually controlled means operable to lock said rockerhead in either its operative or its inoperative positions.

2. In a machine of the class described, a check-row wire coacting mechanism having a rocker-head adapted to be placed in upright or reclining position and having a guide finger and a roller projecting from the outer end portion thereof in spaced relation, means limiting the outward swinging movements of said rocker-head, said means having spaced shoulders and a manually operable catch member for engaging one or the other of said shoulders to secure the rockerhead in either its upright or reclining positions, and means cooperating with said rocker-head and with the parts carried thereby for guiding the passage of a wire through said mechanism.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name to this specification in the presence of two-subscribing witnesses.

BERNARD HANSON.

Witnesses:

E. E. THOMAS, P. D. WAGNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

